


Tell Me You Don't Love Me

by jell_0_shot



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 18:53:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13933170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jell_0_shot/pseuds/jell_0_shot
Summary: Just a little AU-ish drabble thing based on the prompt "Go on. Tell me you don't love me."Enjoy!





	Tell Me You Don't Love Me

Ben didn’t mean to kiss her - at least, not like this.

Not while she was standing in a wedding dress, one that he _was_ allowed to see because he _wasn’t_ the groom. Not while she was three weeks out from her wedding; still planning, still stressing. Not while she had a ring on her finger that was given to her by another man.

Ben had offered to help Ann out with her Maid of Honour duties if she was working long shifts at the hospital. He’d gotten through the venue scouting and the cake testing - barely, but he had managed. Not even five hours of enveloping invitations had cracked him. But a wedding dress fitting? This. This was too much.

She’d pinned her hair up in the changing room, and when she stepped out and twirled, he could feel his heart miss a beat.

“What do you think, Ben?”

As she spun, he could see the way the dress dipped down her back, exposing skin. He imagined resting his palm there as they slow-danced. He walked over to her, his hand catching hers mid-spin. He pulled her close, swaying despite the lack of music.

Leslie’s brow furrowed - “Does this mean you like it?”

Ben looked at her, certain he was under a spell. He would never do this normally - they were best friends, and she was engaged to someone else. And yet, her fingertips clasping his knuckles felt so natural, like perhaps they were made for him.

“I think you look more impossibly beautiful than I ever could have imagined.”

“Ben, what’s going on -”

“Tell me to let you go, and I will.”

She stayed silent, moving with him and their spell.

“Tell me you don’t love me.” He whispered.

She stayed silent once more. She closed her eyes.

“Go on, tell me. Tell me you don’t love me.”

Leslie Knope, wearing a white dress for another man, couldn’t move her lips. Her silence was her answer, and Ben couldn’t stop himself - he kissed her, gently, and in a heartbreaking way.

Then he dropped her hands and walked out of the door.

 

* * *

 

 

Leslie pulled up to the curb outside Ann’s house and grabbed her phone. She sent a quick ‘here!’ text to Ann and waited.

It had been a week since Ben had kissed her. What hurt the most was, she’d been wanting him to do that since the day they’d met, but he chose that exact moment - one that didn’t belong to the two of them - to do it.

Ann knocked on the window and Leslie lent over to unlock the door.

“Hey, Leslie.” Ann sounded out of breath, “Sorry I was running around the house like a mad woman trying to find the address for this place. I’d written it on a little piece of paper but I couldn’t remember -”

Ann realised that Leslie was crying.

“Oh no, what’s happened?” Ann reached out and grabbed Leslie’s hand.

Leslie’s eyes dropped to their hands, intertwined. She felt safe.

“Ben kissed me.” The words hung in the air for a beat.

“What? When?”

Leslie wiped her tears with her free hand, “During my final dress fitting. But I haven’t heard from him since.”

“Have you told Scott?”

Leslie shook her head, “Oh, beautiful Ann, what should I do?”

Ann took her inside her place, made her a cup of tea and asked her if she’d kissed him back.

“What do you think it means - that you kissed him back?” Ann lay a blanket on Leslie’s lap. She had become an expert at looking after Leslie. The same way Leslie knew to make hot cocoa and put a Janis Ian vinyl on when Ann was sad.

“That I’m in love with him. And that I’m a horrible human being.” Fresh tears found their way to Leslie’s eyes.

Ann moved closer to her and wrapped her up in a hug, “You are not a horrible human being. Don’t you dare say that about my best friend, okay?”

Leslie laughed, “Okay. I’m sorry.”

Ann handed her the tissue box, “You’ll figure this out. You always do.”

 

* * *

 

 

The thing about kissing your best friend three weeks before she’s about to marry someone else, and then ignoring her for two weeks is, it kind of makes you a dick. Ben knew he had some grovelling to do. He felt sick to the stomach as he knocked on her door.

“Hey, Ben.” She sounded deflated.

“Hey.” He shifted his weight onto his left foot. “Can I come in?”

Leslie stepped back, letting him slip inside. He didn’t know if he should sit or not, so he just hovered around her couch and turned to her.

“I came to apologise. What I did - it was wrong and I wish I could take it back. I really do.”

He could of sworn he saw a certain type of pain flash in her eyes. She didn’t say anything.

“I, uh, I just -” He paused, “Please say something.”

Leslie sighed, and it was heavy. “You don’t get to just kiss me three weeks out from my wedding and then walk away, Wyatt. You just…don’t get to do that to me.”

“I know, I’m so sorry, Leslie. I’ve really made a mess of everything. I’m a terrible person, the worst actually -”

Leslie threw her eyes shut, “No, Ben, you’re not.”

“I am, Les. You said it yourself; I kissed you three weeks out from your wedding. Only self-centered idiots do that kind of stuff. I need to leave you and Scott alone. I need to let you get on with your life.”

“Ben, don’t -”

He started to move, knowing that he needed to leave.

“I left Scott.”

He faltered, “Oh God, Leslie. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

Her eyes pooled with brave water, “We haven’t been happy for awhile.” Her voice hitched, and she shrugged. “I think I was only marrying him because it was easier than admitting that I didn’t love him anymore. I know that sounds dumb.”

Ben moved towards her, “That doesn’t sound dumb at all.”

Leslie blinked quickly and took a deep breath. She smiled, “I’ll be okay. I just need some time, okay?”

“Of course.” He reached out and touched her arm, wanting to say more, and then left.

 

* * *

 

 

It took her awhile - three months and thirteen days to be exact - but she eventually sent him the text.

It said: ‘Hi, it’s Leslie Knope from the Parks Department here. If you feel like talking, meet me at our spot.’

Then she worried that he wouldn’t know where that was, so she sent 3 more texts explaining what she meant. He replied, saying she didn’t need to introduce herself - he’s had her number for years now - and that he’ll see her there.

She’d already been sitting on the bench for a half hour before he arrived. He wasn’t late - it was just that the wildflowers calmed her.

“Hey, Les.” He smiled at her.

They’d seen each other at work, of course, but this was the first time they were meeting outside of office hours since he’d been at her house. She let herself look at him, properly, and she felt almost shy.

He sat down next to her.

“You remember that day we were having lunch in the courtyard? And I told you that Scott had proposed, and that I was still thinking about what to say, and I asked you what you thought?”

“Yeah?”

“I was hoping you would tell me to say no.” Leslie turned to look at him, he met her eyes. “And I know that’s not fair. I shouldn’t have expected that from you. But it’s what I wanted.”

“I should have said something earlier.”

Leslie laughed, “Yeah, probably.”

“I thought you loved him.”

“I thought you didn’t love me.”

And so Ben weaved his fingers through her hair, kissed her, and showed her that he did.

He always had.


End file.
